Greetings from Maseru, the capital of Lesotho! We have made a long and adventuresome trek since Simons Town, and I will try my best to fill you all in on the highlights.
After Simons Town, we spent a few days in Wilderness, a small coastal town on the very scenic 'Garden Route' on the southern coast of South Africa. We took a bus there, which took about 7 hours. The bus ride was fairly uneventful, except when the driver almost left without Andrej at a rest stop :-) In Wilderness, the main attraction was the beach. Beautiful blue waters with lots of waves on pleasant, uncrowded beaches. A Jill paradise.
We spent most of our first full day there on the beach, and I got a decent sunburn. The backpackers that we stayed at was fun and a good place to stay. Our bedroom window looked right over the Indian Ocean, and you could constantly hear the waves crashing in. I think the sound of the waves at night helped me sleep the best that I have slept the whole time we have been here. The backpackers also had good food (we had pizza there one night) and a friendly crowd. We got the chance to meet some fellow backpackers from Switzerland. It was really helpful to get some advice and meet other people who are doing something similar. Our second full day in Wilderness we spent hiking. (We try to even out our days a little. Jill days are spent relaxing and going to the beach. Andrej days are spent hiking and being active). Wilderness is a very accurate name for the town, and we spent a good amount of time hiking nice trails through the forest along a river.
The end destination was a small waterfall with a lot of gigantic boulders. It was a nice hike with cool weather. We decided to walk all the way back to our hostel, which turned out to be a long hike, but we made it. That day, we also took our laundry to a laundromat. Doing it yourself was not an option- they wash, dry, and fold it all for you for about $5. Not bad. It was a nice luxury as we usually wash our clothes in the sink and hang them to dry in our room.
On Saturday, we left Wilderness. We had a nice breakfast in town and had a good chat with a friendly man who sold us our pancakes. It took a long time for us to get a taxi to the bus stop and we were so worried that we had missed our bus. The bus we took to get to Wilderness was running about a half hour EARLY. But, this bus turned out to be 2.5 hours LATE. The bus stop was a gas station. We found a nice, shaded picnic table. The local people who worked at the gas station, and others passing through were all very friendly and helpful. They assured us we hadn't missed the bus and that it would come, it just sometimes takes a while. Once we finally got on, the gas station attendants were waving to us as we left. We took the bus for about 4 hours to Port Elizabeth. On the bus ride, we passed Tsitsikamma national forest. Near there, two baboons decided to cross the road right in front of our bus (which was barreling down the road way above the speed limit). We nearly hit them, but luckily we didn't.
We stayed in Port Elizabeth for one night. At the backpackers we stayed at there, there happened to be a group of about 15 American college students staying there. They were all part of a study abroad program and were taking a tour of the southern coast while waiting for their semester to start. They had there own large van, and were very friendly and eager people. They gave us a lift into town for dinner and were in general nice to talk to. However, they all seemed so young. Was college really that long ago?
The next day we hopped an overnight train to Bloemfontein. The ride was 13.5 hours. The train was not very crowded, and we got our own sleeper car that could have slept 6 just for the two of us! It was a lot of fun, and felt very good compared to a cramped bus. We enjoyed watching the scenery go by and had a nice dinner in the dining car.
We got into Bloemfontein at 2:30 am. We took a taxi to the hostel we had reserved a few days before. It was nice of them to stay up late enough to check us in. However, we really did not like the hostel. It was basically an old warehouse. Instead of putting up walls and ceilings and everything, they just put up steel dividers. No ceilings in the rooms (just the warehouse ceiling high above). So all night long we got to listen to other people snore. And washing the dishes in the morning. The showers were also rather unpleasant. Instead of staying two nights as originally planned, we hurried out, got a refund on the second night, and went in search of a way to get to our next destination- Lesotho.
Getting to Lesotho was easier said than done. The afternoon bus listed in the Lonely Planet did not exist. Apparently there was one bus, which left at 6am and you could not buy advance tickets and it was first come first served. I did not feel like having another night of waking up in the middle of the night, so we looked into other options. After some Internet searches, phone calls to major bus companies, wandering around town (which was rather unpleasant and didn't look much like a place we would want to be), asking around, etc. we went with our last resort- a minibus taxi. From here on out, I will refer to our minibus taxi lovingly as a 'death cab.' (A reference to a band, Death Cab For Cutie, for those who are unaware). Andrej does not approve of that nickname and thinks it reflects a negative attitude, but I think it is an accurate name, and I am the one writing the post, so it sticks ;-)
A death cab is a 16 passenger van. They tend to not have seat belts, are very cramped, and have no room for luggage. To take a death cab, after much asking around, we discovered you have to go to a small storefront, approach the man with a book sitting under the sign with your destination name, pay him some money, and he puts your name down on a list. Once the list gets 15 people, the death cab leaves for its destination. We were the last two to sign up, and were both put in the front with the driver. The windshield had a large spiderweb crack on my side. Also, my window did not exist. Our backpacks were stuffed in front of and between our legs. Many of the passengers in back held their luggage on their laps. The ride was an hour and a half of flying down the highway at at least 20 kph above the speed limit. At least it kept us somewhat cool with the lack of air conditioning. By the way, the temperature is MUCH hotter inland than on the coast. Anyways, the death cab stopped at the border crossing and we all had to get out. Our driver just said to follow everyone else. So, we all got out and literally walked across the border around the cars, etc. They stamped our passport without a question asked and we wandered into Lesotho. While in line for customs, a nice young woman about my age was in front of us. She was from Lesotho and was very helpful in directing us where to go. She brought us to a taxi queue to get into Maseru (the capital), and we were absolutely mobbed! She was trying to tell them where we wanted to go. There were about 7 different men fighting to drive. After about 10 minutes of mass confusion, arm grabbing, and yelling, we got into a taxi van and went straight to the first hotel. We got out there and had them call us a normal cab to take us elsewhere (the hotel we were dropped at was really fancy and expensive). After some driving around with a friendly and helpful and calm driver, we ended up at a wonderful bed and breakfast. Very spacious with friendly people. And the best part is, we get our own bathroom! We spent most of the day relaxing. Today is our last day in the capital and we are stocking up on supplies for the next week, as well as planning to watch the inauguration tonight. Next week we will be pony trekking through the mountains of Lesotho. We are planning to do a 6 day guided trek. We need to get enough food, blankets, etc. to last us the week. We will not be around Internet cafes during that time, so you won't hear from us for at least a week. We are looking forward to this very much (Andrej has had his heart set on doing this since we first started planning our Africa trip) and we hope to have a great post for you all in a week or two.
Take Care!
